What of you do if you have a damaged or incorrectly assembled front frame on your base, wall, or tall cabinet? Don’t worry, we have a solution! It’s not ideal, but sometimes a face frame needs to be removed from an assembled cabinet. By attempting this before you order a replacement, you’ll save time and possibly money too. Using a block of wood and a rubber mallet, you should be able to remove the front frame and salvage the rest of the cabinet box or re-assemble your cabinet correctly. We will preface this with a disclaimer that it doesn’t always work, but it can work. Feel free to reach out to your Cabinet Coach with any other questions!
Video Transcript
Introduction
Hey everybody, Brian from The Cabinet Joint here.
This is not an assembly video. Today, we're going to shoot kind of a workaround video. Invariably, even in our own assembly shop here, we have an issue where we build a box, the cabinet’s glued up, and the next day we look and say, "Oh my gosh, the front frame’s got a ding in it, or it’s cracked, or it’s configured wrong." We realize we have to get that frame off of this cabinet because the cabinet is salvageable—it’s only the frame that’s bad.
If this happens to you as a homeowner, you don’t want to have to buy a whole new cabinet. If your installer damages the front frame, you just want a new front frame. There is a way to get these frames off of the box if you’re careful. It doesn’t always work, but it can work.
Understanding This Process
First of all, let’s stress that these frames are not held on with mechanical fasteners, like corrugated nails or something crazy like a lot of the stock box companies use. Instead, they use that plastic spline. That thin spline is what holds the frame to the box while the white wood glue sets up.
Wood glue has a melting point or, uh—what’s the word I want—softens at about 150°. There’s logic that says if it’s an unfinished cabinet like this, you could hold a heat gun on it until the glue warms up and hits that temperature, softening it so you can pop the frame off. The problem is, 90% of what we sell are finished cabinets. If you hold a heat gun against our finish, you’re going to heat the finish up to 300° while attempting to get the glue deep inside to 150°, and you’ll destroy the finish.
So, you need a way mechanically to get that frame off.
Removing the Front Frame
It’s as easy as using a dead blow or a rubber mallet and a block of wood. Start in the corner. You want to start at a frame juncture—don’t start banging in the middle, or you’ll bow the frame and probably crack something. The goal is to salvage as much of the cabinet as you can.
Place your block of wood right behind the frame juncture so you’re actually applying force to both pieces of wood. Once you get it started, you can work from the inside and the outside. If you have an overlay and not a flush end, you can work all the way around the cabinet, gently tapping the frame off.
Let’s see how this goes:
I’m going to start in this corner. I’ll position myself in front of the camera since I’m right-handed and give this a tap.
There it goes! I can see I’ve got an opening here now.
I’ll work down the inside of the cabinet. You can see—I’ll turn this sideways—you can see the frame is starting to lift off. I’ve got about a quarter of an inch gap all the way down.
Continuing this sequence, I’ll start at the other corner and tap carefully.
Re-Assembling the Cabinet
Now, the frame is free, and all the splines have come with it. You can see the old glue. If this is a bad frame, I can chuck it. If it’s a good frame and I just built the cabinet upside down, for example, I can clean all the glue out with a sharp chisel. Keep the splines intact, clean the glue off the leading edges of the box, and reattach the frame correctly.
If you’re ordering a new frame, wait until it arrives and then put it on the box. Here’s how that works:
Lay the cabinet on its back.
Clean up the front edges to ensure a tight fit.
When the new frame arrives, push it onto the box (instead of assembling the box into the frame as usual).
Clamp the frame securely, and you’re good to go!
Summary
This process works best with larger cabinets, but the smaller the cabinet, the easier the frame will come off. Take your time. Start in a corner, work your way down, and then across. Don’t just start whacking randomly—you’ll stress the wood.
If you have any questions, your cabinet coach can assist you. If for some reason the frame cracks or the cabinet is damaged and you need a replacement, we can provide new parts. This process is a good attempt to salvage either the box or the frame and save yourself some money.
We hope this helps you out! If you have any questions, give us a call at 888-211-6482.
Thanks for watching!
Not sure we understand the question here?
Use a heat gun to get the glue in the joint up to 150F and the glue will let go. Got this tip from Titebond.
Hey Bradley, Thank you for your comment. Getting the internal glue to warm up to 150F means the external temps would be much, much higher, thereby possibly damaging the finish or causing the joints on the frame to let go as well. While you are welcome to try it, we have not tested this and would not recommend this method to the average assembler. Have a great day!
willing to give it a shot! thanks for the tip Bradley
If the cabinets being reframed are installed, should I try to remove the cabinet before removing the frame? The cabinets have been in place since 1970 so I have no idea how the frames are attached. Your advice on this is greatly appreciated. Did I mention GREATLY appreciated?
The manner we describe to get the frame off is for OUR cabinets, not face frame cabinets in general. Be very careful, following our procedure on any other cabinets could tear the cabinet apart or crack the frame as you try to get it off.
Can this be done with a cabinet that has already been installed in a finished kitchen in the event it is damaged?
Hey JP, thanks for your question. Each situation is different, so I recommend contacting the sales rep, from whom you’ve purchased, for insight regarding your specific project. Thx!